Today, I interviewed Rio Grande Valley pediatrician Marsha Griffin about her experiences visiting the McAllen border patrol processing center called “the Ursula,” where the children are separated from their parents in chain-link fence areas. 1/7
texasmonthly.com/news/pediatric…
texasmonthly.com/news/pediatric…
“In December of last year…we went in, what we saw was these enclosures, and the one right by us within six feet was an enclosure that was locked with around twenty or thirty ten-year-old boys who were crying and screaming and sobbing for their mothers.” 2/7
“And some of them were reaching through the chain-link fence as if they were trying to reach to their mothers and screaming. One little boy had his back to the wall and was slumped to control his sobs.” 3/7
“It appeared that their mothers—since the boys were screaming for them—were in identical cages about fifty feet away, unable to get to their sons or help them. In between them were the desks where the Border Patrol were sitting, working.” 4/7
“We suggested that they might consider having a child life specialist, which we pediatricians use in our children’s hospitals to help children when they’re going through hospital stays.” 5/7
“And we were told that we didn’t understand, that they were law enforcement. That’s not what they did. They’re not a child care facility. They don’t do that.” 6/7
“It can have really long-lasting effects on them, especially this level of stress and trauma… it will kick off the extreme toxic stress reaction in a child’s body.” 7/7
